A customer looks over big-screen televisions Thursday at the Best Buy at South Colorado Boulevard and East Mexico Avenue. Below, a laptop computer is displayed with information about the buyback program that can be purchased with the device.

Who hasn’t bought a new smartphone, laptop computer or television and watched as, only a few months later, a newer, better version hit the market? It’s the price of living in a technologically driven consumer culture.

The folks at Best Buy have launched a program attempting to ease that future pain.

The retailer’s Buy Back program, which kicked off in January, lets customers sell their recently purchased laptop, netbook, tablet, mobile phone or television back to the store at a future date, assuming, as the company states, the “device is in good working condition and includes all original parts.”

The deal begins with the customer paying an upfront fee based on the price of the item purchased. Scoop up an iPad, for example, and the customer ponies up $69 for the chance to sell it back to the store later.

The plan allows for a two-year window to sell laptops, netbooks, tablets and post-paid mobile phones, and four years for television purchases. Customers receive a Best Buy gift card from the transaction.

If a customer trades in equipment up to six months after the purchase, they’ll receive up to 50 percent of the original price back. The longer the time span post-purchase, the less of a percentage they receive.

Tyler Chandler, customer-solution manager at the Best Buy location on East Mexico Avenue adjacent to South Colorado Boulevard in Denver, said customers are particularly nervous about future advances in 3-D televisions.

“So often we have consumers come in with a hesitancy to make larger purchases. They fear the technology becomes obsolete the day after you have it,” Chandler said.

The company points to an Impulse Research Corp. study in which 40 percent of consumers said concerns about technology becoming outdated have likely prevented them, or would prevent them, from purchasing such products.

Weak economy addressed

Joe Cannon, associate professor of marketing at Colorado State University, said the program shrewdly addresses a weak economy along with electronic obsolescence.

“They need to do something to stimulate purchases,” Cannon said. “You don’t buy things if there’s going to be something cheaper or better quality in the future.”

The Best Buy math may not add up for most consumers, though.

“Personally, I’m not so sure after viewing the program if they’re providing enough of an incentive,” Cannon said.

Steve Abernathy, chief executive of SquareTrade, applauds the concept and said it’s best suited for frequently updated products such as the iPhone and iPad.

Abernathy, whose company offers warranties on consumer electronics, said Best Buy customers may not enter the retailers’ stores armed with information to make the best judgment on selling back their gear.

“Best Buy is one of the last remaining retailers with an enormous physical salesperson presence. They can up-sell you something you haven’t done much research on,” he said.

The Best Buy customer may not know how much he or she can sell a used device for through alternative venues. For customers who plan ahead, Best Buy’s website offers a calculator that lets them determine how much they could get back by buying into the program.

“As a consumer, you can go to eBay or Craigslist, or traditional consumer-to-consumer selling,” he said, and newer sites such as gazelle .com that are geared toward electronic-gear trade-ins. “Obviously, it’s a hassle to do that.”

Consider selling elsewhere

Dave Taylor, a Boulder-based consumer-electronics expert and publisher of the popular tech website askdavetaylor.com, said people leave plenty of money on the table by going the Best Buy way.

Had the program existed a year ago, and a Best Buy customer tried to sell an iPad back to the store after 11 months, he or she would likely have netted roughly $210 — once the cost of the enrollment fee is subtracted — in the form of a gift card for the model that retailed for $699, Taylor said. The model can be found for sale on Craigslist for $590, he said.

“You don’t walk out with your cash. They’re really locking in their customers that way,” he said.

But some people would prefer a quick and painless transaction over haggling with strangers over pricing, Taylor said.

“If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t want to deal with it and just keep moving forward, it beats having (the device) sit in the closet unused,” he said.

Brett Mosley, founder and chief executive of Denver-based Bymytronics .com, said the program makes the least sense for television purchases.

“Why would you buy a big-screen TV and then want to future-proof it? It’s a pain. . . . You don’t have time to box it back up,” Mosley said.

Mosley does applaud the program for raising awareness of the reuse of technology.

“It shouldn’t be put in the drawer . . . and we don’t want stuff in landfills,” he said. “Give it to one of your friends who needs a phone.”

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